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NAME: Hampden Park
ADDRESS: Letherby Drive, Glasgow, G42 9BA.
CAPACITY: Approx. 52,000.
CELTIC ALLOCATION: Varies. Almost always the East half of the stadium, extending into the West half depending on the opposition allocation.
RECORD VICTORY: Queen's Park 0, Celtic 6, 10 March 1906
RECORD DEFEAT: Queen's Park 4, Celtic 1, 17 September 1932
DIRECTIONS
BY CAR: The stadium is usually well signposted on important occasions. From the North, South or East it is similar to getting to Celtic Park, following the M8/M73/M74 route to the roundabout at the end of the M74. From here, take a left at the roundabout heading for Rutherglen. Along main street Rutherglen continue along Prospecthill Road and the stadium will be ahead of you to the left (and you'll be on the correct side of the stadium too!) From the West get off the M8 at junction 24, head first for Ibrox(!) and then head for the M77. At the M77 Junction 1 those from the South West join us and follow Titwood Road through the crossing at Pollockshaws Road, down to Battlefield Road. Take the second street on your left (which is rather tight for a busy road) and up to Cathcart Road. Go straight across onto Prospecthill Road and this will take you to the junction with Aikenhead Road and the East side of the stadium.
BY BUS: Lines 31 and 75 from the St Enoch's Centre/Argyle Street area, while line 37 from Glasgow Cross will all get you to the stadium from the centre of town or the Gallowgate area. Supporters buses generally park in the South Stand Car Park.
BY TRAIN: Mount Florida station is just a couple of stops from Central Station and can be found on the other side of Cathcart Road to the West of the stadium. Be warned though this is generally the other team's allocation, and the station is woefully inadequate to handle the stadium emptying. Slightly further afield (and further down the line from Central than Mount Florida) is Kings Park which can be found to the South East of the stadium. Follow Aikenhead Road to find it.
"On sundays the trains leave central for mount florida at xx:10 (newton line), xx:20 and xx:50 (both neilston line); for kings park, they leave at xx:10 and xx:35 (both newton line); SPT also run football specials which take you straight to mount florida or kings park for big games. the journey is about 10 minutes."
– modest_mouse
PARKING: East stand allocation are normally allowed to park on the red ash playing fields across Aikenhead Road from the stadium for a small charge. There is usually ample room here, but getting out again does take time.
WHAT TO EXPECT
To be miles from the park if you're behind the goal.
To be in Scotland's SECOND biggest football stadium. Despite this being the national stadium, it is still smaller than Celtic Park. Murrayfield in Edinburgh is bigger again, but has only be used for football by Hearts in Europe.
The Hampden roar to be more muffled than it once was. Since reconstruction, Hampden Park has been criticised for its lack of atmosphere.
Another stadium! There is a Lesser Hampden to the West of the stadium which could (with a bit of work) be used by Queens Park instead of wasting the National Stadium on a team that are doing well to fill a section let alone the whole stadium. Rumour has it that it will be getting some work done, including a plastic pitch.
SAD TRIVIA
Queen's Park are the oldest club in Scotland, and were the original establishment club. They were formed from a local YMCA in Glasgow.
Queen’s Park also played in the English Leagues in the late 19th century and even came close to winning the league, when their kit was green for a short time as the owner at the time believed it would bring them luck. The maybe the first senior Scottish club to play in Green, stumping the Hibbee fan's belief that they were the first. One of their nickames is "the Hoops", but more usually its "the Spiders".
Although Hampden is now limited to 52,000 capacity, in the good old days it had a capacity of almost three times that. Indeed, the record attendance for a game at Hampden stands at 149,415 for a Scotland v England game in 1937. In that same year, Celtic v Aberdeen set a european club match record attendance of just slightly less than this (146,433 or 147,365 depending on what your source is) – a record which still stands today. Oh, Celtic won that match 2-1. And finally, in 1970, Hampden gained the record for a European Cup match of 136,505 when Celtic played there against Leeds United in their semi final. Again, Celtic won that match 2-1 to go through to the final in Milan that year. And funnily enough, anyone in attendance for that game will tell you the same thing – it felt like more than just 136,505!
Hampden Park has hosted a number of European matches in its time. Borussia Dortmund's 2-1 win over Liverpool in the Cup Winners Cup in 1966 is the only time that particular tournament was won at Hampden, though the first of two finals in 1962 was a 1-1 draw between Atletico Madrid and Fiorentina before the replay was moved on to Stuttgart. Most recently, Real Madrid won the Champions League in 2002 after a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen. That was the first final since Bayern Munich beat St Etienne 1-0 in 1976. But perhaps the most famous European Cup final was played at Hampden in 1960, when Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in front of a crowd of 127,261 (another record for a major European final). This game is often referred to as the best European final in history. To put it into perspective, the losers Eintracht Frankfurt reached the final of the tournament by beating Rangers 12-4 on aggregate in the semi final.
Curiously given the weather in Scotland, up until the mid-1970s, the majority of Hampden Park was unseated and uncovered. Only the main stand had this. At this point, the West stand was given a facelift, including a half decent terracing and a roof. However, this was still woefully inadequate and come the 1990s and the reports after Heysel, Bradford and Hillsborough, it was decided to do a proper job. This time the North and East stands were completely upgraded to all covered, all seated areas, and reopened in February 1994. Later that year, Celtic would move in for a season while Celtic Park itself was redeveloped. After this, Hampden was once more closed to allow completion of the work on the stadium with a redevelopment of the West stand and a completely new South Stand. Those old enough to remember Hampden as it was will no doubt rememeber the press box on top of the South stand which always looked like it was ready to just slide off the top and onto the park. The upgrades to the stadium were completed in time for the 1998/99 season's Scottish Cup final – and as if written into a script this final was played out by Celtic and Rangers.
Hampden Park is one of only two stadiums in Scotland to be graded as Five Star by UEFA, allowing the stadium to be used in European finals.
Due to the ridiculous budget Hampden used in being rebuilt, it is used by more than just football. In recent years the Claymores used it for American Football, and recently Scotland's Rugby Union team played a match there. It has also been used for a number of concerts, and will continue to do so with the coming U2 Vertigo tour this summer. However, it will always be the home of Scottish football, and as such is used for all national semi-finals and finals (unless its between two diddy teams in which case they go and protest and try to get it moved – its worked on occasion) as well as important Scotland matches (friendlies tend to have been moved in recent times). Queens Park also continue to use the stadium for their home matches, as they have done ever since 1903 when Hampden was first built.
TIM FRIENDLY PUBS
"Mcneills bar – Torrisdale Street, The Life of Reilly's – Dixon Avenue, O'Donnells Bar – Victoria Road. A nice wee triangle of celtic minded boozers all within walking distance of each other.The only blackspot is that when its a game against the hun or even saturdays opponents hertz(they may have their scum element thru on sat) there's a chance you may run into them.To avoid such trailer trash just walk down Dixon Avenue/Road youll soon meet up with fellow hoops fans on Aitkenhead Road"
– Hooped_Avenger
"Life O'Reillys, although inevitably a tim pub, i wouldnt go there as it looks quite a dodgy dive."
– modest_mouse
"Life of Reilly. Have to say the few times I've been in it I've had no bother."
– kevtic
"Beechwood is a tim friendly pub on match days i hope"
– David
"The Montford is a good boozer but packs out early doors, for those getting Supporters Busses there is a good chance you will park near The Spur it's a hole but the beers cheap and yes the rumour is true where you wipe your feet before going back outside!"
– Big_Bobo_Balde
"Heraghty's is on Pollokshaws road, a good 15 minute walk from hampden but not much further than McNeills which is mentioned. If your lazy you can get the train two stops from Mount Florida to Queens Park. Its an excellent wee pub with a really good atmosphere and never a hint of trouble. unfortunatly frequented by Gerry McNee on occasion, and the self prolaimed king boozer of the south side, Jack McLean."
– modest_mouse
"Kellys is also just on the other side of Allison Street on Pollokshaws road too which is another good celtic pub I believe."
– modest_mouse
"There's also Neeson's in Allison St defo of the spit and sawdust variety but a tim friendly pub nonetheless.
– kevtic
"The Clockwork Beer Company is the nearest pub at the huns end but it used to close when big games were on. It has since changed hands so it might be open. If you're a real ale fan then that's the place to go. It doesn't have any allegiance to either team and generally no colours are allowed so that might be a problem for some."
– kevtic
"The Mire Bar on Aitkenhead Rd – best boozer in the Hampden vicinity by a country mile. Very, very good pint of Guinness.
– celticsean
"The Brazen Head is only a 20min walk to the ground"
– McCole
Any more???
PUBS TO AVOID
"Avoid most pubs on Battlefield Road. Armstrongs is okay for tims, but the one just down from it (Mission?, opposite the college) should be avoided."
– modest_mouse
"Avoid florida park a rsc leaves from there and the clockwork overpriced and no football colours allowed"
– David
"Don't go near the New Regent (couple of doors along from MJ Heraghty's). Complete hun shop. Most bars in Shawlands are also of the hun persuasion."
– Remy McSwain
"Avoid Penny Farthing on Cathcart road in the Crosshill area."
– kevtic
Anyone???